Political expense accounts

[a_majoor]

Three politicians from three parties go to the same place at the same time:

http://stevejanke.com/archives/250322.php

Conservative, Liberal, and NDP expense accountsWednesday, December 26, 2007 at 12:25 PM Comments: 1Previous Post
How can three people take the same flight to the same place to complete the same task, and still two people can each spend full 33% more to do the task?

I don't have an answer for that.  It's just one of those things that shows how Liberals and NDP folks are more subtle and complex than Conservatives.

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Defence Minister Peter MacKay spent Christmas with Canada's troops in Afghanistan.  Conservative Peter MacKay is pretty familiar with Kandahar, having spent time there in his previous job as Foreign Minister.

Back in May, then Foreign Minister Peter MacKay went to Kandahar to visit the troops as well as government officials.  He was accompanied with Liberal MP Bryon Wilfert and NDP MP Alexa McDonough.

The cost of the trip is available at the Foreign Affairs website.

Hon. Peter G. MacKay,  Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
Purpose: Trip to Afghanistan (Kandahar and Kabul - accommodation stayed on military base)
Date(s): 2006-05-07 to 2006-05-11
Destination(s): Kandahar and Kabul, Afghanistan
Air fare: $8,182.33
Other Transportation: $0.00
Accommodation: $0.00
Meals and Incidentals: $93.75
Other: $0.00
Total: $8,276.08

Hon. Bryon Wilfert,  Member of Parliament
Purpose: Accompany Minister MacKay to Kandahar and Dubai for bilateral visit
Date(s): 2006-05-07 to 2006-05-11
Destination(s): Kandahar and Dubai
Air fare: $10,897.88
Other Transportation: $0.00
Accommodation: $0.00
Meals and Incidentals: $88.72
Other: $0.00
Total: $10,986.60

Alexa McDonough,  Member of Parliament
Purpose: Accompany Minister MacKay to Kandahar and Dubai for bilateral visit
Date(s): 2006-05-07 to 2006-05-11
Destination(s): Kandahar and Dubai
Air fare: $10,868.33
Other Transportation: $0.00
Accommodation: $0.00
Meals and Incidentals: $72.90
Other: $0.00
Total: $10,941.23

Amazing, isn't it?  It's almost a joke. 

A Conservative, a Liberal, and a Dipper go on on trip...

Here's the punchline.  A Liberal spends 33% more, and the NDP MP 32% more.

So what's the difference between a Liberal expense account and an NDP expense account?  It's so fractional, you can't really say they'll all that different.

Remember how upset the opposition was about not getting a taxpayer-paid trip to Bali to tell everyone how bad the Conservatives were on dealing with global warming?  I wonder if they were more upset that they would actually be expected to be especially careful with the money spent, being party funds and not "free money" supplied by you and me.

 

[Gunner]

I suspect the visit was kept secret until a couple of days before it was scheduled to go.  The Minister's Office would have extended an invite at the last minute to accompany Peter Mackay.  Last minute invite necessitated last minute airline bookings.  Hence, higher airfare cost.

 

[Greymatters]

Transport costs may include having to fly in to Ottawa from other parts of Canada prior to the main flight to Kandahar?

 

[SupersonicMax]

The document specifies Kandahar and Kabul for MacKay and Dubai and Kandahar for the other 2.  That might explain it!

 

[Rodahn]

IMO there are far too many variables to make this a fair comparison, such as what are the circumstances regarding the flights.... But why are meals and incidentals higher for Peter?

 

[Neill McKay]

IMO there are far too many variables to make this a fair comparison, such as what are the circumstances regarding the flights.... But why are meals and incidentals higher for Peter?

It could be as simple as claiming one more meal because of the length of time in transit.  (Twenty bucks is all that separates the lowest and the highest -- what's that, lunch at the federal rate?)

 

[Rodahn]

Very true, I hadn't even considered that portion, to my mind I think that the whole incident is being overstated. As noted earlier far too many variables.